“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
Matthew 7:24
Jesus preached, and his teachings were recorded in the gospels.
While the prophets, who came before his birth as a man, spoke as messengers of God; Jesus preached directly, giving us information from himself.
Jesus, that is God, came among us as a man to sacrifice himself for us, but he also taught. What I want you to notice is that these teachings come directly from God.
God is omniscient and perfect. God cannot make mistakes or lie. God loves us and understands us perfectly. Therefore the wisest thing to do is to listen to these words and put them into practice.
The famous simile of the house built on the rock helps us understand that we have a simple choice:
Listen to and follow Jesus, or follow philosophies created by men.
God is immutable, and his teachings are based on truth.
Secular philosophy, on the other hand, is based on man’s limited knowledge and the satisfaction of the flesh. Because of this, they are different from God’s teachings.
Since God tells us the truth, anything that is contrary to the word of God is not the truth.
Therefore, when we hear teachings contrary to the word of God, we know that these teachings are based on lies.
Therefore, if we rely on the secular way of thinking, there comes a time when reality contradicts the lies, and ‘the house built on the sand falls’.
For example for the world, the purpose of life is to self-actualize and praise oneself.
A person who builds his life based on this purpose lives in constant attempts to achieve their goals and thinks that he will be happy only when he achieves the next goal, but obviously, happiness is never achieved. So, there comes a time when this person will understand that he cannot be happy in this way.
God, in this case, tells us that he created us to have a fellowship relationship with him.
This is the truth. If this person does not listen to these words, he may find another worldly philosophy, based on another lie, and start a new cycle of delusion.
I once visited a city abroad. I was using public transport services to get around. I asked a lady waiting for the bus if the bus route I needed passed through that particular stop. The woman, without thinking much about it, confirmed. I waited for more than an hour, but the bus didn’t pass. So I began to wonder if the information that lady had given me was correct. So I asked another person for the same information, and she replied that my bus stop wasn’t there.
The first information did not correspond to reality. That lady had deliberately lied to me, or she didn’t know what she was saying. Believing that information, I just wasted my time. This is what happens when we believe lies. The damage caused by that misinformation was minimal, but imagine what can happen if we believe more dangerous lies.
The most important thing is eternal life. Jesus, on earth, always spoke of the kingdom of heaven. Earthly life is fleeting, the most important thing is where and how you will spend eternity.
Worldly philosophy tells you that you are just a mass of molecules and your life is the result of an improbable accident. The sad thing about this lie is that those who believe it only discover its falsehood when it’s too late.
In fact, God will judge men, and no one can be saved by their own strength. Only believing and following Jesus’ words can guarantee us God’s mercy, the forgiveness of sins, and, consequently, eternal life.